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Cards pitchers tie mark by retiring 40 straight

Miller begins string by setting down final 27 faced; Wainwright caps stellar run

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Must C: Close 3:09

5/11/13: Matt Carpenter makes a great play to preserve Adam Wainwright's no-hitter in the eighth before it is broken up by the next batter

By Paul Casella
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MLB.com |

Though the Cardinals fell just shy of throwing two no-hitters in as many days, the club's run of retiring 40 straight Rockies hitters between Friday and Saturday matched the all-time record for most consecutive hitters retired by one team against another, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

The dominant performances by Shelby Miller on Friday night and Adam Wainwright on Saturday afternoon combined to match the 1996 Rangers' streak set against the Tigers on May 3 and 4, 1996.

St. Louis' remarkable stretch of not allowing a baserunner started with the second hitter in Friday's 3-0 victory. After surrendering a single to open the top of the first inning, Miller retired the next 27 hitters -- 13 via strikeout -- to complete a masterful one-hit shutout.

On Saturday, Wainwright picked up right where Miller left off, retiring each of the first 13 hitters he faced before issuing a one-out walk to Todd Helton in the fifth inning to snap the streak. Wainwright responded by recording nine more outs consecutively before ceding a seventh-inning single to Nolan Arenado to break up the no-hit bid.

Along with the record-tying string of 40 consecutive batters retired, the Cardinals held the Rockies hitless for a span of 50 batters between Young's single on Friday and Arenado's knock on Saturday.

Paul Casella is a reporter for MLB.com. Follow him on Twitter @paul_casella. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.